"The four most dangerous words in investing are 'This time it's different'."
1-Min Market Update
Crypto prices have rallied recently, offering some much-needed relief.
Unfortunately, though, bear markets have historically not been this short. It is quite likely that what we’re witnessing is a good old-fashioned bear trap.
The safest bet is to dollar cost average in, especially while the price of Bitcoin remains below $30k.
Bitcoin
Back above $22k for the first time since June.
It’s quite possible $17k BTC area was the bottom, but the chances of this being the start of a major rally above $28k, as we highlighted a few weeks back, seem unlikely.
Altcoins
Ethereum leads the rally with, Solana following.
My main view is still that we’ll see a bottom later this year.
Macro/Stocks
As many of you are aware, the US inflation rate for June was higher than expected at 9.1% last week.
Investors now anticipate that the Fed will raise interest rates by a full 100bps (1%), after the Canadian central bank shocked investors by raising 1% last week. They meet between on the 26th and 27th of July.
Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal this month put the chance of a recession sometime in the next 12 months at 49%.
One of Russia’s largest gas pipelines to Europe is currently undergoing its annual maintenance, it’s likely that Putin may delay work to prevent Europe stockpiling gas for the winter
Top News This Week
Terra Projects Start Migrating to Polygon, Polygon to Participate in Disney’s 2022 Accelerator Program and Matic Leads Crypto Market Rally
Over 48 different projects which were a part of the Terra (LUNA) ecosystem are making their way and migrating towards the Polygon (MATIC) ecosystem. In fact, Polygon Studios CEO Ryan Wyatt has expressed delight at his network’s ability to essentially onboard many projects to the ecosystem.
Furthermore, the CEO hinted that Polygon’s multimillion-dollar Terra Developer Fund has been effective when it came to attracting new talent, which was in limbo after the collapse of Terra in May.
Polygon was also selected to participate in Disney's Accelerator Program to further the development of Web3 experiences. This accelerator program is focused on augmented reality (AR), non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and artificial intelligence (AI), based on an official statement from The Walt Disney Company.
The MATIC cryptocurrency also led the crypto market rally on July 14, 2022, after the US Labor Department released the CPI data. In the report, Polygon's MATIC led the way in terms of gains for the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization and was up 18.34% in the span of 24 hours.
OpenSea Laid off 20% Of Their Staff Due to the Crypto Winter
OpenSea is the world's largest marketplace when it comes to non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in terms of their trading volume. It recently announced layoffs, where the company joined other crypto companies when it came to cutting employees due to the crypto winter.
According to its CEO, Devin Finzer, OpenSea is pressing ahead with a plan to cut 20% of its workforce, where Finzer cited that the company needs to adapt to current market conditions.
According to data from Dune Analytics, NFT sales volumes on OpenSea fell by 70% in June when compared to the previous month.
$3 Million spent on GameStop NFT Marketplace, SK Telecom to introduce Web3 Wallet, and Samsung Unveils Virtual Playground "Space Tycoon"
GameStop has been experimenting with non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and this has led to quite a good start. Ever since the NFT marketplace launched, over $3.5 million has been spent on the platform’s top 50 NFT collections. With a royalty rate of 2.25% per sale, GameStop’s marketplace has generated around $67,500 in terms of revenue for the company.
Furthermore, South Korea's largest mobile operator, known as SK Telecom, joined forces with the crypto firms AhnLab Blockchain Company and Atomrigs Labs to release a digital wallet.
Specifically, this wallet will provide cryptocurrency services as well as broad access to the Web3 ecosystem.
Samsung Electronics Co, Ltd. also made an announcement surrounding the launch of Samsung Space Tycoon, or "Space Tycoon," which is a virtual playground built on top of the global metaverse platform Roblox. This virtual space will let users create, play games, and share experiences through the usage of Samsung Electronics products, together with alien characters in space.
The inflation Rate Has Spiked to 9.1%, Which Is the Highest It Has Been in the Last 40 Years
The inflation rate has increased by over 9%, which makes it the highest it has been in the span of the past four decades. Furthermore, the prices of Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Dogecoin (DOGE), and Cardano (ADA) have all been affected by this news, where the global crypto market cap temporarily dipped under $900 billion. Bitcoin maximalists said that the asset might be used as a hedge against inflation, although this has not been the case recently.
CEL Dumped 50% After Celsius Network Filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection While Circle Disclosed $55.7 Billion Worth of Cash and Treasury Reserves
Celsius Network initiated a voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection with the Southern District of New York. At this point, the CEL cryptocurrency recorded a dip of over 50%, which meant that it dropped to a monthly low before recovering some of that value.
Circle issued its first monthly report that closely detailed the reserves for its US-dollar backed stablecoin known as USDC, and the unaudited report showcased $55.7 billion in cash and three months of US treasury securities at the end of June. These reserves include $13.58 billion in cash and $42.12 billion in three-month treasury securities.
Thanks for reading,
James